The United States Geological Survey (USGS) announced that a powerful 7.2 magnitude earthquake shook southern Peru on Thursday and no casualties have been reported so far.
The earthquake was recorded at 7:02 a.m. (GMT) with its epicenter at a depth of 240 kilometers, 20 kilometers northeast of Ayaviri in the Bolivian border region of Puno, according to the Peruvian National Seismological Center.
Peruvian authorities announced that the magnitude of the earthquake was 6.9 and that it was felt in Tacna (Chile border), Moquegua, Cusco and Arequipa regions due to the great depth at which it occurred.
“So far, due to the level of intensity on the wobbly surface, it should have caused a fright (in the population), not any damage,” Hernando Tavera, director of the Peruvian Institute of Geophysics, told RPP radio. .
“When the earthquake is deeper, the ground shaking is smaller. The detection radius is greater than the radius of the shaking. The entire southern region of Peru was affected by the earthquake,” Tavera said.
“We are monitoring the situation, it is too early to know if there is damage,” said Rolando Capucho, general coordinator of the National Center for Emergency Operations (COEN).
Tradition
“It was strong, a lot of people took to the streets,” a resident of the Andean city of Cusco told RPP radio.
In Peru’s second largest city, Arequipa, people took to the streets in search of safe places.
In a population accustomed to living with these natural disasters, there was not despair but tense calm.
The Peruvian presidency has called for calm, noting that authorities are assessing the impact, according to a message posted on its Twitter account: “After the 6.9 earthquake in Puno, Ayaviri, which shook several cities in the south of the country, to keep the public calm in the face of possible aftershocks. The government coordinated assessment of personal and property damage with organizations.” does”.
Peru is shaken by at least 400 visible earthquakes each year. The country is located in what is called the Pacific Ring of Fire, an extensive telluric activity area that runs along the west coast of the Americas.
On July 30, 2021, a 6.1 magnitude earthquake that shook the north coast injured 40 people and damaged 200 homes and four temples.
Last November, a powerful 7.5-magnitude earthquake that shook Peru’s northern forest and a large area surrounding the country’s central coast injured and damaged 12 homes, officials said.
The last earthquake of great magnitude and tragic consequences occurred in Pisco on August 15, 2007, and a 7.9 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter on the central coast left 595 dead. There was a small tsunami at that time.
source: Noticias
